Kaohsiung mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential hopeful Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is to hold a rally as scheduled on Saturday at a night market in Hualien, despite a devastating fire there early yesterday, several KMT councilors said yesterday.
The blaze, which broke out at the Dongdamen Night Market in Hualien City at about 1am and burned 42 stalls to the ground, was extinguished after an hour, the Hualien County Fire Department said.
There were no casualties as most of the stalls were closed at the time, the department said, adding that it was investigating the cause of the fire.
Photo: CNA
The fire has not deterred Han from seeking public support in eastern Taiwan for his presidential bid, as a rally in Taipei on Saturday drew nearly 400,000 people chanting: “Han Kuo-yu, president of the common people,” his organizers said.
A local news report said that police estimates put the crowd at 70,000 people.
The Hualien rally is to proceed as scheduled, KMT Taipei city councilors Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Tai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽) and Wang Hsin-i (王欣儀) and New Taipei City Councilor Tang Hui-lin (唐慧琳) confirmed at a press conference.
Meanwhile, more than 10 Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung city councilors called on Han to step down as mayor to focus on his presidential bid, saying that the city’s environmental, health and traffic problems have worsened since he assumed office on Dec. 25 last year.
The KMT is set to release a final list of candidates to take part in its presidential primary on Monday next week.
They include Han, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中).
Han is the only one of the six who has not yet officially announced his intention to compete in the primary, having said only that he does not oppose the idea of the party including his name.
The KMT plans to select its presidential candidate based on the results of public opinion polls, which are to be conducted by five polling firms from July 5 to July 15.
The winner is to be officially announced on July 28.
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